Fractional Commercial Manager — Subcontractors

Margin leaks in the fine print.
I close it.

Most subbies carry all the commercial risk alone, and only call for help once it's already a fire. I get ahead of it — protecting margin before it leaks through bad terms, rejected variations, or delayed payment.

In your corner, not the head contractor's Month-to-month or project-based
Notice for Claim — Cl. 21.4 Amended
BEFORE
Notice must be given within 5 business days of the event, or the claim is barred.
AFTER
Notice must be given within 15 business days, with time running from when the effect became known.
Notice window gained +10 days
Where subbies lose margin

It rarely fails on site. It fails in the paperwork.

By the time a director calls a lawyer, the notice period has usually already lapsed. These are the patterns that quietly erode margin on almost every project — long before anyone notices.

01

Risk priced blind at tender

Scope ambiguity and onerous variation clauses get signed because there's no time — or appetite — to negotiate before the deadline.

Contract
02

Notice periods missed

Delay and variation claims die on a technicality — a notice given three days late under a strict time-bar clause, regardless of merit.

Variations
03

Weak records under pressure

Site teams focus on delivery, not documentation — so when a claim is disputed, there's nothing to point to.

Claims
04

Payment terms accepted as given

Sixty, ninety, even one-hundred-and-twenty-day terms get waved through, quietly funding the head contractor's cash flow instead of yours.

Payment
05

Final account left on the table

Retention, unresolved variations, and defects positions never get chased to closure — margin sits unclaimed until it's written off.

Final account
What I handle

Everything between the signature and the final account.

Engaged as your fractional commercial manager, not a one-off advisor — across the life of the contract, not just when something's already gone wrong.

Cl. 01

Commercial position reviews

A clear-eyed read of where you actually stand on a live contract — exposure, entitlements, and the moves available before you need them.

Cl. 02

Variation and EOT strategy

Building variations and extension-of-time claims that hold up — timed, evidenced, and pursued before time-bar clauses close the door.

Cl. 03

Payment claims and Security of Payment

Progress claims prepared and pursued properly, with statutory adjudication rights used when a head contractor sits on payment.

Cl. 04

Contract negotiation and builder-facing correspondence

Terms negotiated before signature, and the commercial correspondence handled once the project's underway — so it's on record, and it's not you sending it.

Cl. 05

Final account positioning and recovery

Retention, outstanding variations, and defects liability tracked through to close-out, so nothing gets quietly written off.

Recent engagement
$186,000EOT claim recovered, once time-barred

A steel fabrication subcontractor's extension-of-time claim had already been rejected on a notice technicality. Restructured under the contract's concurrent delay provisions, it was resubmitted, approved, and the liquidated damages exposure that came with it disappeared.

Illustrative of the kind of commercial adjustment available on live contracts. Figures and specifics available on request during a scoping call.
Project typeCivil infrastructure, WA
TradeSteel fabrication
InterventionEOT claim restructure + notice strategy
Time to changeSingle variation determination
Delay costs & LDs avoided$186,000
Engagements

Retained, or scoped to the project.

Matched to your exposure — an ongoing seat at the table, or focused support on the contract in front of you.

Month-to-month

Retained commercial manager

An ongoing commercial seat in your business — reviewing contracts as they land, running variations and claims, and handling correspondence, without the overhead of a full-time hire.

  • Ongoing contract and variation oversight
  • Direct line for head-contractor pressure as it happens
  • Cancel with 30 days' notice
Discuss a retainer
Project-based

Scoped to a live contract

Brought in for a specific project or a specific problem — a contract under negotiation, a claim under time pressure, or a final account that needs closing out.

  • Fixed scope, fixed fee
  • Fast start on urgent notice periods
  • No ongoing commitment
Scope a project
Who's handling it

Contracts, from the other side of the table.

Perth Construction Commercial Centre is built on time spent inside the commercial and procurement teams of major projects — the same seat head contractors sit in when they're reviewing your claims, assessing your variations, and setting your payment terms.

That's the advantage: knowing exactly how a commercial position gets tested from the other side, and building yours to hold up against it.

Get ahead of the next fire.

A 20-minute call is enough to flag where you're exposed on a live contract.

Book a commercial review